Films: In short

No genuine writer could watch this film and be unmoved by the depth of its shallowness. Cast as Rory Jansen, a tortured writer who passes off an old manuscript as his own, Bradley Cooper is there for box-office viability rather than credibility. This is an ordinary film the directors try to complicate by putting their imaginary writer inside another story being read out by real writer Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid). All is well for Rory until an elderly man turns up who happens to be the real author (Jeremy Irons). This allows us to delve into the past and learn why the original manuscript was written.

“Oh, he was much bigger than the Rolling Stones," says a South African record company executive. Bigger than Elvis, too. Detroit-born musician Sixto Rodriguez’s debut album sold more than 500,000 copies while the republic was still grappling with apartheid. The song everyone knows is Sugar Man, a sad tale of drugs that deaden the pain of life. This documentary by Malik Bendjelloul is the irresistible story of the way one man’s music captured the ear of a nation while he considered himself a failure.

In the eyes of the world, hedge fund tycoon Robert Miller is a successful financier, a philanthropist and family man. In reality, he is a philanderer and a fraud, struggling to keep his dishonest dealings from being exposed. Nicholas Jarecki’s film is not about money markets in the way Margin Call was; it is a melodrama that uses the finance industry as a backdrop. The term arbitrage functions as a metaphor for a series of trade-offs Miller makes as he tries to resolve two monumental crises in his private and public lives. The difference to be exploited is between appearance and reality.